Addressable LED strips - Full Guide

What is an addressable LED strip?

An addressable LED strip is a digital strip containing LEDs and driver chips that allow each LED to be controlled independently. This means that each LED can be autonomous and intelligent in its own way. In other words, each light can have its own shade and brightness. Each chip supports 1 to several LEDs depending on the connection in terms of controlling the power of their channels. So each individual diode can be turned on, dimmed, brightened or a different light color can be obtained. This gives amazing effects such as movement imitation or the ability to display animation or even an image.

How do addressable LED strips work?

The microcontroller integrated circuit receives digital signal data from the addressable LED controller, then cuts off the beginning of the signal and delivers a control command to the next LED. In this way, all diodes receive a signal from the LED controller. 1 integrated circuit on the strip can support 1 to 6 diodes depending on their connection.

What voltage should addressable diodes be powered with? 5V 12V or maybe 24V?

Digital diodes can be powered with a voltage from 3.3V to 24V. It depends on how the diodes are placed and connected in sequence.  Because 1 digital chip is one set of settings for the diode, all diodes assigned to the chip shine with the same light. The number of LEDs assigned to the signal decoding chip is related to the supply voltage of the digital LED strip. Digital diodes can be powered with a voltage from 3.3V to 24V. Since the supply voltage defines the number of LEDs that will take on the same color, so when creating a single-color set, it is worth considering how much resolution we need. In the case of projects viewed from up close, a much better solution is to use individually controlled diodes. In the case of projects viewed from a distance where animations are fast, a better solution due to the lack of high resolution requirements and ease of power supply will be to use diodes powered by 12V or 24V

Power supply voltages for addressable LEDs:

• 3.3V to 5V - Each module supports exactly 1 LED. Cutting point every 1 LED. Precise designs. Animations viewed up close
•  12V -  Each single Module supports exactly 3 LEDs sharing a voltage of 12V. Cutting point every 3 LEDs. Diodes viewed from a significant distance of several meters
•  24V -  Each single Module supports exactly 3 LEDs sharing a voltage of 12V. Cutting point every 6 LEDs. Projects viewed from a distance of over 5 meters
  
  

Types of Addressable LED Strips

The connection point of an addressable LED strip is different from a regular 12V or 24V LED strip. You can judge whether your light strip is an addressable LED strip by its connection point.

Addressable LED strips can be divided into single-signal LED strips, dual-signal LED strips, breakpoint resume series and DMX512 LED strips depending on signal. And these four types are different. 

1. Single Signal Addressable LED Strips - 3pin

From the name, it follows that the single signal addressable LED strip can only pass one type of signal. The control area of ​​the integrated circuit is called a pixel. When one of the pixels is damaged, the other pixels will stop working. Therefore, its connection point is the positive wire, the negative wire and the signal wire. Take the figure below as an example.

• 12 V represents the line positive.
• Din represents the data signal line.
• GND represents the negative line.

 
 Addressable diodes controlled classically - using 1 signal line  are:

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2. Dual-signal addressable LED strips

In addition to the data signal passing through the dual-signal addressable LED strip, it adds a clock function. You can set the time to turn on the LED light.

5 V — positive line
CKL/CKO — clock line
SDI/SDO — digital signal line
GND — negative line

Addressable diodes controlled classically - using 2 signal lines are:

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3 Addressable LED Strips with Dual Signal Line

This is an improved version of the addressable Single Signal LED Strip with Dual Data Line.In the event of a single data line failure, the backup data line will automatically start up to ensure the signal is not interrupted.

• 12 V — positive line
• DO1 — digital signal line< /span>
• DO2 — spare line
• GND — negative line

Addressable diodes controlled classic - using a double signal line is:

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How to cut and connect addressable LED strips?

LEDs should always be cut in the place marked with soldering fields - i.e. in places where exposed copper channels are visible. Cutting in another place will cause dysfunction of the damaged section. Digital LED diodes are always cut in the designated place marked with copper. This place is for a diode with a voltage of:

• 5V - cut every diode
• 12V - cut every 3 diodes</ li>
• 24V - cut every 6 diodes

Connecting diodes involves connecting their subsequent channels while maintaining the direction of data flow. 
We must therefore think not only about connecting the GND channels - GND, power supply - power supply, signal signal. Additionally, we must remember the order of signal flow along the LED strip. Each digital strip has the direction of data flow marked with an arrow. So if we want the next section to be an extension of the signal, its beginning must be connected to the end of the previously connected strip.
 

Number of points we can control

The number of points depends on the number of channels absorbed by the addressable tape chip.
MONO tapes - 1 channel per diode
RGB tapes - 3 channels per diode
RGBW tapes - 4 channels per diode
RGB + CCT tapes - 5 channels per diode

Therefore, we can say that the same LED controller can handle a mono tape 3 times longer than a digital tape with the same chip density on the LED tape